How can you cope better with stress? How do you feel when bad things happen? Do you bounce back from 26 or sob indefinitely? Emotional resilience, the ability that some people have to 27 stress, was once thought to be a genetic gift. You were either lucky and had it, or you didn't and struggled. Studies show that teenagers who fail exams have an 28 risk of depression as adults, as athletes who lose can feel long-term guilt and humiliation. But recent psychological research suggests that emotional resilience can be developed. The study found that having higher levels of self-esteem, a more positive way of explaining why things happen, and avoiding perfectionist thinking were strongly linked to bouncing back when things go wrong. How you explain things also matters: if you attribute personal success to 29 rather than your own work and talent, then you are less able to use success to boost your self-esteem. If, however, you can 30 a disappointment by attributing it to external factors, such as not getting a job because they wanted a different skill mix, then you have the equivalent of emotional armor.